Women’s Ethical Agency and Syrian Islamic Revivalism

Abstract

This study analyzes the widespread impact of the Qubaysiyat order, a women-led and operated Islamic revivalist movement in postcolonial Syria, and its reflection and transformation across the cultural landscape of a broad spectrum of Muslim communities today. Through strategically cultivated spheres of influence, Munira Al-Qubaysi and her religious order, or Jama'ah, have shaped both the more observant echelons of Syrian society and diaspora communities abroad. This paper examines the organizational attributes that have enabled the movement to proliferate across varied cultural settings and investigates how its traditionalist teachings paradoxically produce proactive agents of social change. Drawing on the international scope of Qubaysi operations, the study analyzes how the movement's ideals and methods of transmission are adapted beyond their Syrian origins, with particular attention to their manifestation in an American context. This paper argues that traditional Islamic values can serve as a vehicle for women's ethical agency across diverse settings, positioning adherents in productive tension with prevailing social norms in both majority-Muslim countries and minority diaspora communities, while tracing the continuities and divergences in how these values are expressed and embodied.